


Man of Fire

by roommes



Category: One Piece
Genre: Gen, fire is alive, he is alive
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-21
Updated: 2016-03-21
Packaged: 2018-05-28 01:40:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 711
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6309229
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/roommes/pseuds/roommes
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>[Sabo Birthday Fic]</p>
<p>It was a curious thing to be a man of fire, when fire sometimes seemed so alive, more so than the other elements, and it felt to Sabo like he was housing another living being inside of him.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Man of Fire

**Author's Note:**

> Reposted from my tumblr [room-mes].
> 
> Inspired by 'The Little Match Girl' by Hans Christian Anderson.

“Happy birthday, Sabo! Have a good night,” they chorused and he thanked them with a kind smile, before retiring into his room.

 

The sole candle lamp burned on the corner of his desk, wavering from the breeze that came in through the window above his bed. It shivered and shuddered, and looked to be struggling to stay alive. It reminded him of his childhood, always struggling. He chuckled to himself at his sentimentality from a single flame, and decided to give the candle a little help. He withdrew another candle from the top drawer and lit his finger on fire.

 

It was a curious thing to be a man of fire, when fire sometimes seemed so alive, more so than the other elements, and it felt to Sabo like he was housing another living being inside of him. The tiny flame flickered in the dark, as if it was a newborn baby just starting to learn its bearings. A sudden gust of wind came and the fire disappeared. Just as Sabo was about to summon more of it, he noticed that a piece of it still lingers at the tip of his fingernail, tiny but still alive. When the wind left, it started to grow again, slowly, like it was trying to crawl out of its shell, not unlike the way his late brother crawled out of his hiding spot in the tree when he first met him.

 

The flame eventually gained enough strength to stand, and stand it did, proudly on his finger. He didn’t even notice that the latest wind had snuffed out the candle lamp and the only source of light was now at the tip of his finger. Yet the fire shone so brightly and he stared in amazement as it started to take the shape of a human.

 

The word escaped out of his mouth in a gasp even before he thought it. “Ace.”

 

The whispered word gave the fire strength, and the fire-figure placed his hands on his hips as if he was about to start a reprimand. The mouth of the figure moved with inaudible words, and Sabo found himself shaking his head in desperation, trying to tell Ace that he couldn’t hear a single word he said. Another breeze, and Ace was knocked off his finger. Sabo let out a soft cry and keeping the finger - that his brother was clutching on for dear life - steady, he moved to shut the window a little too violently. Then he sat on the bed, and waited for Ace to regain himself.

 

Ace dusted his fire body and gave a glare to Sabo, who laughed despite. Again, his brother’s mouth moved but not a single word was heard.

 

“I… I cannot hear you, Ace,” Sabo whispered back, his eyes a little wet.

 

His brother smiled back at him, and in that stuffy room the fire could grow better, and it did. Sabo could no longer tell if it was him controlling the fire or if the fire was controlling him instead, as it kept expanding until it was of equal size as him. Ace stood in front of him, tall and handsome and exactly as the wanted posters that Sabo had pasted on his wall, and now Sabo could no longer say that he had never met Ace in his prime. His brother leaned into him, the fire enveloping his body, the warmth - that should be fatal to anyone else but felt soothing to the new Mera Mera user instead - seeping into his skin. He didn’t want to close his eyes, in fear that he would wake to nothing but a burnt bed.

 

This time he could hear Ace’s voice, in a whisper beside his ear, as he said, “Happy birthday Sabo.”

 

There was a loud knock on his door and he jerked, as if he was waking from a dream. There was fire all around him, but now they felt like mere energies controllable by him, instead of having a mind and a form of their own a minute ago. He extinguished the fire, his heart a little heavy, and dusted his pants.

 

Koala’s voice streamed in from the outside, “Sabo, you have a call. It’s from Luffy.”

 

He smiled to himself.  _Thank you, Ace_.


End file.
